Getting your player ready...
So you’re old enough to remember Dobie Gillis and you’re approaching the day when that packet from the AARP arrives in your mailbox. Every passing day, the idea of finding a house that doesn’t require climbing stairs after the Leno show looks better and better; but would you rather pick one where you’re surrounded by other baby boomers? Where the neighbors all know who Buzz Aldrin was? Or would you prefer the average age on your block is a number lower than your own age is?
That choice is yours on the Best of Fifty-Plus home tour, running this weekend and next at 24 new communities around Denver and Boulder, sponsored by HBA’s 50+ Housing Council – including some of each kind. Builders of 55-and-older-restricted communities say the concept creates synergy between residents that ends up as a major attraction. “There’s no better place to discover new friends and interests; you can be as involved as you want to be,” says Angela Harris, activities director at Oakwood Homes’ Fairway Villas, a 55-and-older ranch concept beside Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, east of Peña Blvd. on 56th Avenue. The opposite of that age-restricted lifestyle is what three sites offer at master-planned Stapleton, proving hugely popular with buyers including a growing number of older ones wanting ranches. As part of the package, those residents get the same trails, shopping and dining that lure younger buyers. Meanwhile, enclaves designed around lower maintenance tend to draw the boomer-and-older profile even when they’re not restricted. “Anybody who really wants low maintenance, who wants to be able to go enjoy other things, will be attracted to this product,” says Dana Keller, vice president at Koelbel Urban Homes – bringing a new enclave of patio ranches to the very last sites at Pinehurst Country Club. Those aren’t open today; but next weekend there’ll be an Airstream and free hot dog/coffee cart on site, just west of S. Sheridan, south of Quincy. Both choices of lifestyle – age-restricted and not – are finding loads of buyers; but builders usually have a home or two still ready for move-in now. That’s the case at Verona, the 55-and-older area west of Lucent on County Line Road in Highlands Ranch: two ‘Manors’ condos ready for end-of-year, with more product coming on line soon. The Best of 50-Plus Tour lets you put together your own tour, working from the map and listings – or visit the web site at Bestof50PlusTour.com. WHERE: The Best of 50+ Housing Tour, first weekend, tour of 24 locations offering ranches, townhomes & condos designed for a 50-and-over lifestyle; sponsored by 50+ Housing Council of the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver, W.J. Bradley & Security 1 Lending. PRICE: From high-$100s to $800s
